United Nations Development Programme in the Arab States

Libya announces polling phase for new house of representatives

21 Jun 2014

The High National Election Commission (HNEC) today launches officially the polling for electing new members of the House of Representatives scheduled to take place nationwide on June 25, 2014.
The announcement came during the launching event organized by HNEC on Saturday, June 21, 2014. With the presence of Senior Government Officials, Deputy Special Representative of the UN Secretary General and UNDP Resident Representative, Diplomatic Community and invited guests, the Chairman of the HNEC announced the official starting of poling which began by Libyans in diaspora in 13 countries. According to the announcement, out of country voting will continue for two days until 22nd of June 2014 and the ballot within the country will take place on June 25, 2014 nationwide.

In his opening statement Dr Imad Asayeh, Chairman of the Board of Commissioners of HNEC said Libyans should respect ballot results and as it is the only option for all at this critical time. “ We waited long to reach to this important day, thanks to the efforts of those who seek peace and stability of Libya and this will form peaceful transfer of power and enhances democratic institutions of the state” underlined the chairman of HNEC.

The Deputy Special Representative of the UN secretary General and UNDP Resident Representative Mr Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed said that going to the polls is always an important endeavour requiring substantial work, but in the view of the UN this election is particularly important as it comes at a pivotal time for Libya. “It was over three years ago that the revolution started. The transition has taken longer than expected. It is therefore critical that each Libyan has a say and a stake in the new Libya through inclusive and participatory elections. The increase in number of voters by about 400 thousand individuals from the previous election conducted to elect constitutional drafting assembly is a positive indicator for the success of democratic process further underlined the DSRSG.
The DSRSG announced the UN’s continuous support in accordance with the mandate set out by the UN Security Council. At the technical level, the UN Electoral support team comprising of UNDP and UN support mission in Libya provides a day-to-day advice on electoral issues. Through the UN Development Programme, the UN assists in the procurement of sensitive electoral materials such as ballots and indelible inks. IOM is providing support for out of country voting for Libyans in diaspora.
For the current House of Representatives election, 1714 candidates of which 152 of women will run for 200 seats of the parliament. According to recent reports of the HNEC over 1.5 million Libyans are registered to vote.

With special focus to women candidates, UNDP launched a special training workshops to provide skills on the concepts of parliament to women candidates. The workshop which started on June 21will continue up to June 23 2014 and every day a group of 40 women candidates will be trained with a total of 120 candidates to participate in the training.